Vitali Klitschko is an outstanding Ukrainian professional boxer and the current WBC world heavyweight champion. He is also a leader of the political party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) (2010–2015) and Petro Poroshenko Bloc (2015–2016).
Boxing record: He holds the distinction of being a three time world heavyweight champion, having previously held the WBO and WBC titles, and has never been knocked out or knocked down in any professional boxing bout. He also has the highest knockout percentage (88.37%) of any heavyweight boxing champion in overall fights. Total fights-47; Wins-45; Wins by KO-41; Losses-2 Heavyweight raitings - 2 (1216) On 16 June 2012. As a professional heavyweight boxer he has a net worth of $65 million.
Vitali is the first professional boxing world champion to hold a Ph.D. ( Physical Education and Sport).
Political activity. Klitschko began campaigning for mayor of Kiev shortly after his retirement.
On 2006 mayoral election he placed second with 26% of the vote. In 2008 he was also appointed to the Ukrainian delegation of the Congress of the Council of Europe. He assists with improving relations between Ukraine and Germany. Klitschko became a leader of the political party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform in April 2010.
He was elected Mayor of Kyiv on 25 May 2014. He currently serves as the Mayor and head of the Kiev City State Administration.
Business activity. Their own firm KMG organises and engages fights of both brothers. Now he earns near 3-5 million dollars in a fight. Vitaliy Net Worth is about 20 million euros, Vladimir Net Worth -23 million euros.
Klitschko have contracts with a fitness network "McFit", a manufacturer of vitamin preparations "Eunova", a German state company "Telekom" and the car company "Mercedes". Brothers have their own line of clothes, work with world famous company Hugo Boss. In addition, they are real estate owners in many countries.
Charitable activities. Autumn 1997 together with his brother Vitaly founded the International Fund “Sports - XXI century”. The purpose of this fund - support for talented athletes, experienced coaches and sports veterans who need help. Vitali and his brother also have been involved in charitable activities dedicated to support the needs of schools, churches and children. In 2002, the Klitschko brothers announced that they had agreed to work specifically for the UNESCO which supports more than 180 projects in 87 countries. Since 2003 - Vitaly is a chairman of the board of a charitable organization "Klitschko brothers Foundation".
Honors and Awards: Hero of Ukraine (31 December 2004), Order For Courage (2004), Order of Merit I and III grades (1999, 2008). He has been awarded Germany's highest award Federal Cross of Merit (2010). In 2016, Klitschko was named The Eternal World Heavyweight Champion by the WBC.
Vitali Klitschko began boxing at age of 14. Originally Klitschko was a kickboxer. In November, 1993, he took part in the world amateur championship of WAKO, held at Atlantic City, New Jersey. As a professional kickboxer, Klitschko won the super heavyweight championship at the first World Military Games in Italy in 1995. In that same year, he won the silver medal at the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Berlin Germany. His amateur record was 195-15 with 80 knockouts. He also was a three-time Ukrainian heavyweight champion in boxing.
Klitschko began his professional boxing career in 1996, winning his first twenty-four fights by either early knockout or technical knockout (TKO). In his 25th pro fight, on 26 June 1999, Klitschko won the WBO heavyweight title from Herbie Hide of the United Kingdom by a 2nd round knockout. He successfully defended the title twice before a April 1, 2000 match against American Chris Byrd.
On June 21, 2003 he faced WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in Los Angeles, California. Before the seventh round, the ringside doctor deemed Klitschko’s wounds severe enough to threaten eye damage , stopping the fight despite Klitschko's pleas to continue. "No, No, No" - that was Vitali's immediate reaction after the fight was stopped. Klitschko was ahead on all three scorecards 58-56 (4 rounds to 2) at the time of the stoppage, but because the wound was a result of punches from Lewis and not a headbutt, Lewis won by technical knockout. For years after this fight, Klitschko would still occasionally call out Lewis, despite the fact that Lewis has been retired since early 2004, for a rematch.
On 6 December 2003 Klitschko defeated Kirk Johnson from Canada by TKO in the second round. Later he earned an 8th-round TKO victory over South African Corrie Sanders on 24 April 2004, to capture the WBC (World Boxing Council) heavyweight championship which had been vacated by Lewis.
On 11 December 2004 in his first WBC title defense Klitschko scored a technical knockout against British boxer Williams in 8 rounds.
On 9 November 2005, Vitali Klitschko announced his retirement from professional boxing and vacated his title.
In 2007 Vitali Klitschko announced the decision to return to professional sports, to the delight of thousands of fans from around the world.
Vitali took advantage of his champion emeritus status and secured a title challenge against the reigning WBC champion Samuel Peter. The fight was arranged on 11 October 2008 at Berlin. Klitschko defeated Peter by TKO in the 8 round and Won WBC Heavyweight Title.
In 2009, Klitschko successfully defended his WBC Heavyweight title three times. He defeated Juan Carlos Gomez, Chris Arreola and Kevin Johnson.
On 12 December Vitali defeated by unanimous decision winning almost every round. Klitschko then defended his WBC belt against Albert Sosnowski on May 29, 2010 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. On 16 October, 2010 in Hamburg, Gemany Vitali Klitschko defeated Shannon Briggs by unanimous decision winning in every round.
On 19 March, 2011 in Cologne, Germany, Klitschko defeated Cuban boxer Odlanier Solis Fonte by TKO in the first round.
On 10 September 2011, in Wroclaw, Poland, Klitschko defeated Tomasz Adamek from Poland by TKO in the tenth round. On 18 February 2012 in Munich, Germany, Klitschko defeated Dereck Chisora by unanimous decision winning. On 8 September 2012 in Moscow, Russia, Klitschko defeated Manuel Charr by TKO 4, and Retained WBC heavyweight title.
On 15 December 2013, Vitali Klitschko was announced champion emeritus and focused on political activity in Ukraine. Klitschko was one of the dominant figures of the Euromaidan protests. On 24 October 2013 that he intended to take part in the next Ukrainian presidential election that was then set for 2015. But he had changed his mind and would run for the post of Mayor of Kiev. Klitschko won Kiev's mayoral elections with almost 57% of the votes. In the 2015 Kiev Mayoral election Klitschko was reelected with 66.5% of vote.
He currently serves as Mayor of Kiev and head of Kiev City State Administration.
Together with his parents and brother Vitali traveled much of the Soviet Union. Vitali and Wladimir spent almost all his childhood military garrisons. In 1985 they moved to Ukraine.
He is married to Natalia Egorova, a former athlete and model. They met in Kiev and got married in April 1996. They have three children, Egor-Daniel (b.May 16, 2000), Elizabeth-Victoria (b. November 24, 2002 ) and Max (b. April 1, 2005) (named after the former World Heavyweight Champion Max Schmeling).
In 2004, the Klitschko brothers moved from Hamburg, Germany to Los Angeles, California.
In January 2004, they notified Universum that they would not re-sign when their contracts expired in April. Universum sued the brothers, arguing that their recent injuries had triggered a clause binding them beyond April. The suit was ultimately resolved in favour of the Klitschkos in November 2009
Both brothers hold Ph.D and they are multilingual, speaking four languages: Russian, Ukrainian, German, and English.
They became national celebrities when they moved to Germany. However despite the great popularity in the Germany and in the World, Vitali and Vladimir Klitschko are proud to say that they are perceived abroad as citizens of Ukraine.
Current Residence: Kiev, Ukraine